Hello and welcome to live coverage of the FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Crystal Palace at Wembley. There are two ways to do this – the familiar tale or the fairy tale. Chelsea are hoping to reach their 11th FA Cup final since the turn of the century; Palace are aiming for the third FA Cup final in their entire history.
Palace will be without the infectious Conor Gallagher, whose parents won’t let him play tonight. Oh and they’ve lost their last nine games against Chelsea. But despite all my frankly inappropriate woe and sadness, Palace will imagine their chances of an upset. They are in good form, have troubled a number of big clubs this season and have an away chance of their best league standing since the glorious 1990-91 campaign. An appearance in the FA Cup final would cap off a superb debut season under Patrick Vieira.
Chelsea want a repeat of the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool, ideally without Kepa taking the decisive penalty halfway through Harlesden. They can still do something of a treble – the Club World Cup, Super Cup and FA Cup would be a decent comeback, especially given their off-field issues.
Palace will be hoping Chelsea’s emotional Champions League defeat to Real Madrid cost them dearly. We will find out soon enough.
To start up 16h30.
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